Teens Next Door: Hellbat
"I'm Still Here." - Hellbat Origin tagline Teens Next Door: Hellbat Origin is the 45th story by Depthcharge2030 set in the Legends Universe. Hellbat, one of the Rhode Island Teens Next Door's long lasting enemies, was not always a leader. Turn back the clock to before 'Providence High', when war wounds were fresh. See the rise before the fall. The first chapter was uploaded on Deviant Art on July 27th 2016 as a special preview. Summary Hellbat: Origin In the six months following the second battle with Grandfather, now called The KND’s Darkest Hour, though believed dead by all including his mother and sister, Nolan York is revealed to have survived his confrontation with Grandfather and started a new life under the alias ‘Koda Shrieves’, content with having the KND pick up the slack and protect Rhode Island. However, with the KND no longer existing as an entity, the Teen Ninjas led by The Steve are free to reign unchecked. Nolan becomes disillusioned further upon realizing Douglass is heading the local TND, composed of Gwen, Garret, Kayla, Thomas, Vana and Violet. Instead of being proactive in subverting the Teen Ninjas, Douglass instead opts to lightly combat and monitor them, due to the lack of manpower and having since given up fighting for the Eat Coast, believing it to be a lost cause. In his attempts to reintegrate into society, Nolan happens across a transfer student from the UK named Crystal Wick, who has found it difficult herself to fit into the Teen Ninja run Rhode Island. Becoming fast friends and are invited by a pair of classmates, Agatha Pine and April Moon, to a local party by an old quarry near the outskirts of the final battle with Grandfather. While partying, Crystal uncovers what appears to be a corrupted Book of KND, and thinks nothing of it until it starts whispering into her ear. The party gets crashed by Teen Ninjas led by Prom Queen who appear and capture Nolan. Tired of the treatment dished out by the Teen Ninjas, Crystal attempts to fight back, only to be smacked down. She tries again, this time after the goading of the book and manifests magical abilities. Stunned by her own actions, Crystal flees with her friends while Nolan is taken away to a secret bunker. Prom Queen makes her intentions known, revealing to Nolan that in the days since the fall, the Teen Ninjas organization had expanded to rapidly, that their current leader The Steve was now more of a puppet clinging on to what power he can while the other heads of the organization ranging from Cree Lincoln, McGillicutty, , and Prom Queen herself with Nolan’s old rival Evan March serving as a subordinate. Having seen Nolan in action over the years, Prom Queen reveals she’s come to respect her former operative, conceding that having more operatives like him in the Teen Ninjas would turn it around from the oppressive regime it currently is to something more benevolent that wouldn’t warrant the mounting death toll from over the years and seeks to recruit him to aid her in the struggle for leadership. Having heard her pitch, Nolan appears conflicted, but then recalls how long it had been since anyone had stood against the Teen Ninjas. Realizing the TND had more than enough time to get results, Nolan concludes that his only means to fight the Teen Ninjas is to do so from within. Nolan accepts Prom Queen’s proposal and joins the Teen Ninjas, adopting the name ‘Hellbat’ in order to maintain his supposed death. Crystal reaches an agreement with the book, for it to lend her its power so that she may fight the oppressive Teen Ninjas. Agatha and April overhear Crystal and make deals with the book as well, with the trio becoming crimefighting vigilantes with Crystal adopting the name of Wiccan. After a series of skirmishes with the Teen Ninjas, an individual identifying himself as Sandman takes notice of Crystal’s attempts at combating the Teen Ninjas and extends an invitation to a gathering of fellow like minded individuals who’d grown dissatisfied with the way the world was going. Crystal, and her friends are met by Machination, a Safety Robot from the now defunct Safety Initiative created by Senator Safely, Numbuh 01 and 02, coleaders of a coalition of CND operatives who’d never gotten to join the KND called the Kids Liberation Force, Sand and Sandstorm, two associates of Sandman with one possessing mad skating skills and the other armed with the gem of dreams can turn his body into a living sandstorm. Lastly, the assembled group is met by their organizer, Mara, who’d seen fit to gather together the group to systematically liberate Rhode Island from Teen Ninja control. The Book whispers in Crystal’s ear that joining forces is a good idea and urges her to agree. Crystal, seeing no issue, does so leading to the formation of the United Vigilantes. Now in 2009, and a member of the Teen Ninjas, Nolan is assigned work in a brute force division that puts down attempted rebellions on school yards. Though ashamed of his actions, Nolan continues working with the Teens knowing that that the ends justify the means. Eventually Nolan rises through the ranks as Prom Queen had planned, but so does the activity of the United Vigilantes whose ranks seem to be growing with every passing day. To deal with the growing threat, The Steve commissions Prom Queen to oversee a new initiative designed to crackdown on the vigilantes through sheer force, much to Cree and Evan’s protest at wanting to be given the assignment instead. Instituting Project Gestalt, Nolan along with five other Teen operatives including Abraham Drake, a former KND operative. The team, dubbed Triton Squad, undergoes a series augmentation procedure and given specialized armor to enable the team to combine into a behemoth akin to one of Grandfather’s Mindbeasts from the previous war. The team is sent out into the field to test their combining ability, however, they encounter the Vigilantes in the middle of attacking a Teen Ninjas outpost. Seeing no better time to try out their power, Triton Squad combines into a hulking behemoth that promptly lays into the vigilantes. After a grueling battle, Crystal gives into the book’s whispers to unleash its full power and lets loose a beam of energy that pierces the Triton Squad gestalt through the chest, seemingly killing it. Crystal is greeted by her fellow vigilantes and congratulated for her efforts in killing the gestalt. Sandman reveals his knowledge of events during the KND’s final fight with Grandfather, that the Gestalt’s victory would have been signified as a unanimous victory for the Teen Ninjas, who would have simply started to mass produce gestalts. Weeks later, Nolan awakens, finding his squad surrounding him. Abraham explains the situation, how they were shot and they didn’t expect Nolan to survive, but they’re glad he did. Doctors arrive to check up on Nolan, who makes it clear that the only ones in the room are the doctor and Nolan, revealing that he’d been the only survivor of the encounter. Nolan has trouble dealing with the voices in his head. Their voices begin to overpower his thoughts. Sandman and Crystal talk amongst themselves over the state of Rhode Island, how they’ve practically halted all crime. Sandman reminds her that it’s the absence of crime that scares him. The Teens have receded and are now plotting again. The TND busy themselves with recording the Rhode Island Conflict and with personal drama. Prom Queen orders Nolan to have a psych evaluation. The voices of his dead teammates take over for a brief period and to fake their way through the evaluation. Prom Queen shuts down the gestalt program, and positions Hellbat to operate with a new squad, much to Evan’s charge-in. Nolan reconnects with his original Teen Ninjas team, finding they’ve all been reassigned to new positions. They make note of his reluctance to remove the Hellbat helmet, but he changes the conversation. He later meets with his new team, who are unimpressed by their new leader. Abraham instructs Nolan to do as he did, and then Nolan instructs the team to begin working on their gear and learn to work as a unit. Crystal has a quiet moment with The Talking Book and begins to question its history. The Book reveals that it once fought bigoted regimes of social order and fought for an equal world before being entombed in the book. The Book swears to aid Crystal as she admits they have similar goals. The Book privately reveals itself to be Grandfather who survived his fight with the KND. Nolan is now a freshman in High school and has earned his team’s respect. The Steve, with their Adult Benefactor’s blessing, promotes Prom Queen and gives her total control of the east coast division. The TND adjusts to being high schoolers as well as dealing with raging hormones as Kayla attempts to pursue a romantic relationship with Garret. Wiccan herself finds herself smitten by Sandman’s mysterious nature. During a United Vigilante meeting, with the Governor of Rhode Island, they unanimously decide to strike at the Teen Ninjas home base and kill Prom Queen. Due to her promotion, Evan takes Prom Queen’s former position, Hellbat himself is promoted, making him and his former rival Evan equal in rank. Prom Queen then sends him on a mission to burn down the fallen Sector Q treehouse, with the intent on spitting his old nemesis Numbuh 2030 from beyond the grave. Hellbat arrives at his old base of operations intent on burning it down, only to stop upon finding his sister Cecily hosting a sit in with hundreds of kids who long for the days of the KND. Returning with the mission failed, his team and friends worry especially when he goes for long periods of wearing his armor. Hellbat and Evan come to blows over Prom Queen Favoritism of the former. But the base is alerted of an incoming attack. Prom Queen orders everyone to their battle stations as they are being attacked by a massive KND war ship. The vigilantes lead an assault on the base, the Kids Liberation Force operates the war ship, raining hell down on the teens while Sandman coordinates the attack. Machination leads a legion of drones to storm the base while Wiccan lets her friends take part while hanging back. Sandman grooms her, by complimenting her often in order to prepare her to kill Prom Queen as she has the power to get in and out alive. While this occurs, Hellbat leads his team above on a dropship, informing them that he believes in them while the voices in his head all attempt to hijack his leadership. The team attack the dropship, with Hellbat coming face to face with the leader of the KLF, Number 01. After fighting with the voices, he eventually caves into their reasoning and kills Number 01 in cold blood. Hellbat freezes in horror of his actions as the war ship crashes.Prom Queen comes face to face with Wiccan who’s fought her way into the base. After a brief exchange of words, Sandman and The Book pressure Wiccan to kill the teen leader. Wiccan leaves past Evan March who then radios the sad news of Prom Queens death, and now claims leadership over the teen ninjas, ordering a full retreat. As Wiccan leaves the compound, the KLF war ship crashes over her. Surviving only because of a force field spell, Wiccan comes face to face with Hellbat, who survived the crash. All the voices in Nolan’s head scream for retribution. The pair fight in a grand display. Their fight further escalates when Wiccan discovers the dead bodies of KLF operatives all of whom had been killed by Hellbat prior to the crash. The fight ends with Wiccan being rescued by Sandman and his Sandmen. Hellbat radios aloud to halt the retreat, claiming the enemy has been repelled. Safely away from the fighting, The TND watch the horror of the fighting, and have come to believe that Hellbat is in fact Abraham Drake. Mara Cade, on the other hand, after piggy backing off their feed has another theory. Evan March takes over leadership of the east coast Teen Operations, placing his own friends into positions of power. Nolan has been ordered to take a vacation, suspecting Evan disliked his actions in calling off the retreat. He takes a moment to hang out with friends Dishon, Reef, Vince, Connor and Natalie. They notice his inability to remove the hood he wears yet again, as if he’d truly become the armor. The TND, continues to watch from the shadows, waiting to see who wins the ongoing Rhode Island Conflict, while at the same time dealing with social drama, especially between Kayla and Garret, who argue over Kayla’s new band books the gig to play at their school’s winter formal. Nolan and Crystal reconnect at a winter formal at Providence High, the school Douglass and the other TND operatives go to. Evan, more lax with the rules than Prom Queen ever was, gives the green light for Teen Ninjas to sell drugs during the event. Nolan, while dealing with the voices of his dead teammates in his head, seeks the distraction afforded to him by dancing with Crystal. However, Crystal notices the Teen Ninjas outside dealing and excuses herself. Recalling the events following his decision to side with Count Thanatos during the New Chloris incident, Nolan once more feels isolated and decides to leave, but not before Kayla sees him amongst the crowd. Sandman appears beside Crystal and the pair dispatch the teens. Sandman flirts with Crystal during the fight. The duo go their separate ways but when she returns, she sees Nolan leaving, much to her disappointment. Kayla begins to look for evidence of Nolan’s survival after the fight with Grandfather. After talking with Garret, Kayla is dissuaded. During the middle of 2010, Hellbat and his team are attacked by the Sandmen. Hellbat manages to turn the tide of the battle, and they manage to capture Sand. Evan and his lieutenants, oddly out of character, congratulate Nolan. Nolan soon learns of a rumor about his ‘Hellbat’ persona being the supposed new leader of the Rhode Island Teen Cell. The Vigilantes, on the other hand, had staged the fight in order to act on these rumors, placing Sand in a position to keep tabs on Hellbat. Machination begins to tire of these long games and voices his grievances. Sandman attempts to defuse the situation, only for the robot to leave. Wiccan checks in on the TND, catching Douglass and Gwen in a compromising position. Wiccan talks to them, and under the influence of Grandfather, vaguely threatens them if they ever help the Teen Ninjas. Mara begins putting the pieces together and deduces that the presumed deceased Nolan and the current Hellbat are one and the same. The TND begin monitoring the vigilantes, citing them as more of a problem than the Teen Ninjas. Machination has gone off the grid while the others are scheming against the teens. The TND make it their priority to find Machination. In captivity, Sand keeps eyes on Hellbat, reporting back to Sandman with the help of a teen ninja. The voices in Nolan’s head start to come into conflict with their roles, no longer having bodies they all want to take over Nolan’s. Sand accesses the Teen Battle Net, discovering all of the documents in regards to Hellbat’s identity have been edited with the various names of his teammates taking his place. Nolan figures out that they’ve been taking over his body from time and again and have each been making preparations to take over fully. Sand’s teen informant is later murdered by Nolan after the voices and Nolan figure everything out. Sand calls for an extraction and the vigilantes arrive. The TND locate Machination and find he’s developed a robotic army ready to take over Rhode Island. The fighting between the Teens and Vigilantes escalate. Sandman rescues Sand from the clutches of two teens, killing them. Sand is grateful for the assist, but is then murdered by Sandman. Sandman announces Sand’s death at the hands of the teens, enraging Wiccan. The Book tells her to act on her rage, and kills Izzy Meyers, one of Nolan’s original teammates. The slaughter continues until culminating in a full on brawl between Hellbat and Sandman. The vigilantes gang up on the teen, only for the TND to appear. They pull Sandman and Wiccan aside, who all are displeased by their interruption, allowing Hellbat to escape. They warn of Machination and his army. The Vigilantes retreat, leaving the Teens to lick their wounds. Machination announces his intentions to protect child kind to the world and as a show of force lays siege to Rhode Island. The Teen Ninjas recover Hellbat, who is quite displeased with Evan’s leadership. The two argue about the deaths that could have been prevented, but then decide to put their grievances on hold to deal with the threat of Machination. Evan splits up Hellbat’s team and appoints them all to field leaders. Hellbat is then tasked with leading the charge against Machination. The Vigilantes themselves try to talk things over with Machination, who is busy killing all of those who would harm child kind. Mara begins cryptically reaching out to Nolan. The voices in Nolan’s head lash out, demanding that they take over. The fighting begins to get out of hand, the drones begin to adapt as Machination watches on, declaring war on those who oppose him, including the Vigilantes. War through the streets spans three weeks. The fight with Machination has escalated with the robot adapting its drones, refining them for combat. The Government is in the middle instilling Martial Law. The Governor confides with Sandman that he doesn’t enjoy this one bit. Evan March walks into the room, revealing the quasi treaty between the three. The Governor and Evan ID Hellbat as the Teen Leader and claims he is leading the teens against Machination. Sandman claims that Wiccan herself if doing the same thing with the few remaining Vigilantes. Sandman leaves to join Wiccan on the front. The fight rages as Hellbat order civilians evacuated. The TND watch from the shadows, aiding where they can. Hellbat acknowledges their contribution, unsure what to make of them. The Teens and the Vigilantes have made a truce as they deal with Machination. Dishon eventually gets into a disagreement with Wiccan but before they come to blows, Hellbat and Sandman intervene. The voices urge Nolan to kill the vigilantes, as the Book urges Wiccan to do the same to the teens. Both fight off these urges and plot to strike Machination in his Brain Center in his base. While the majority of their forces fight against Machination, Hellbat, Sandman, Dishon, Wiccan, Danton, Natalie, and Connor go to destroy Machination’s Brain Center. The strike team gets cut off, with Danton, Sandman, Natalie and Conor being stuck outside the facility. Hellbat, Wiccan and Dishon continue onward. The Book insists the time to kill Hellbat is now with his back turned relying on her. Wiccan disagrees as she needs him just the same, but the Book claims to have all the power she needs and says this is the only time to kill him. She caves and attempts to kill Hellbat, only for Dishon to intervene. Hellbat continues into the instillation, as Dishon is killed, the voices in his head apparently directing his course of action. Hellbat fights through the instillation, debating the ethics of control with Machination. It’s a futile endeavor as Hellbat acknowledges the machine was built for one thing and one thing only, that it can’t possibly deny its programing. And because of that it has to die. Hellbat fights to the Brain Center and destroys it. The drones all around Rhode Island shut down, ending the threat of Machination. Wiccan escapes the facility, not before pinning Hellbat under a beam and leaving him for dead as the facility self-destructs. Faced with certain death, the voices begin to urge Nolan to get up or relinquish control of his body to them so they could save them. Nolan simply tells them to shut up as the plant explodes. The wounded Hellbat attempts to call in an extraction, only to be denied as the Teens are focusing all their resources to aiding the people. Evan implores Hellbat to argue with him, but he confesses that the people need it more than he. Evan informs Sandman and Wiccan that they failed and that Hellbat survived. Exhausted, Sandman and Wiccan leave, unable to continue fighting. Wiccan begins talking to Sandman about their relationship, how at any moment they could die. Sandman agrees. And then the two consummate their relationship. Hellbat finds is captured by Mara Cade, taken to the Sector Q Tree House. She begins to interrogate him, demanding to know how he survived and why he’s a member of Teen Ninjas. Nolan doesn’t respond as he’s busy dealing with the voices in his head. Nolan recalls the reason his squad was assembled, to become the perfect gestalt. The voices quiet slightly. Mara persists, wanting to have Nolan put aside all he’s done and join the vigilantes. Mara begins to name off the vigilantes and at the mention of Wiccan all the voices, including Nolan, who’d just recently lost his friend Dishon to Wiccan, all of them quiet. The voices and Nolan conclude together that Wiccan needs to die. The voices begin to silence in this rage and for the first time in a while, Nolan can think clearly again. Unified by this hate, Nolan has realized Prom Queens dream by becoming the perfect gestalt. Mara questions Nolan and his sense of identity referring to decommissioning. Nolan proclaims he is Hellbat, The Devil and kills Mara. Hellbat leaves and reunites with his squad and friends. Immediately setting back out to work, Hellbat checks in with his mother to see if she and her family had been spared from the ongoing destruction. He discovers that their home had been caught in the carnage with both his mother dying and stepfather left in critical condition. Hellbat meets his stepfather in the hospital and finds him dying. Certain in the fact the dead man would keep his secret, he reveals his identity and questions him of whether or not Cecily had survived. His stepfather curses him, claiming that he always hated Nolan and was glad to have believed he’d died. Nolan cares not for their bitter argument and demands to know if his sister had survived. His stepfather confirms that Cecily had indeed lived through the destruction of their home and now was left alone with no one, no one but Nolan. With his final words he demands that Nolan look after Cecily and then flatlines. Afterward, Hellbat alerts his team and friends to find Cecily but not to confront her. Receiving an alert from Petra, Hellbat approaches her in the fallen Sector Q treehouse in civilian wear, much to Petra’s confusion. Sending his subordinates away, Nolan approaches Cecily within his former treehouse and finds her hiding in his old room. Approaching her, Nolan tells her a story of his exploits within the KND, how he’d fought for kid kind all across the globe, from the furthest reaches of space to the four corners of the Earth against the most fearsome of foes, revealing to Cecily that he is her brother and together they depart the fallen beacon of hope to kids throughout Rhode Island and go home. Josh Paddock, the former Numbuh 832 and renown vigilante arrives in Rhode Island after recent news of Mara’s passing, deciding to once and for all kill Hellbat. During this time, Hellbat is caught up in a fight against a vigilante known as Payback, the father of Number 01. Hellbat bests Payback after an explosive fight and remorselessly kills him. Josh is greeted by Wiccan and Sandman who wish to run a joint offensive against Hellbat. Josh declines their offer. Josh hunts down Hellbat, killing a number of teen ninjas to do so, finding him recuperating in an alley after his fight with Payback. The two fight, Hellbat is knocked unconscious at some point and Josh discovers he’s Nolan, aka Numbuh 2030. Josh can’t bring himself to murder his best friend, now faced with a dilemma, he gives up his homicidal vigilante career. When asked by Sandman and Wiccan why he couldn’t go through with it, Josh refuses to answer. Nolan, under his Koda Shrieves identity, begins making efforts to obtain custody of his sister Cecily. Ultimately, Nolan is able to and attempts to reconnect with his sister, who still believes him to have died years ago. Discovering that she’d come to develop a form of hero worship for him, having grown up hearing folk tales of his exploits as Numbuh 2030 on school yards, Nolan is left conflicted, acknowledging that he was no longer what his sister idolized, instead, that he was now the villain of his own story. The Governor and Evan meet in secret, plotting on what to do with Hellbat, who Evan states hasn’t been following his orders lately. Hellbat has been hunting down the vigilantes, going as far as to brutally murder some of the Sandmen. Following the events of Machination’s invasion, public perception of the Rhode Island Conflict has shifted, the United States Government is demanding the vigilantes taken down and Hellbat is seen by the public is recognized as the leader of the Teen Ninjas. On one hand this is easier for them to manipulate Hellbat as a figure head, but at the same time makes the Vigilantes work more tedious. Given what Sandman learned from Sand before her death, Sandman leaks Hellbat’s supposed identity as Abraham Drake. Taking a day for himself, Nolan runs into Crystal, who’s stressed out over everything. They talk for a while, not going into specific detail about their lives or lying. In a cruel twist of irony, they bid each other good luck in their future endeavors. Hellbat begins the day by sitting down his friend and subordinate Mitchell and trying to get him to open up, having noticed his anti-social tendencies over the years. Mitchell refuses to acknowledge this, but Hellbat presses the issue, wanting to help his friend, saying that whenever he needed him, Hellbat would be there. Hellbat also checks in on his friend Reef, finding her cutting herself. Reef flees before Hellbat can catch up with her. Vince himself is in a depressive slump when Hellbat finds him. Hellbat begins taking interest in Evan’s latest attitude towards him, how out of character he’s been. Nolan begins to dig into Evan’s whereabouts. Crystal herself tries to find herself as The Book keeps drawing herself into the darkness as her friends continue to clamber for its power. Hellbat checks back in with Mitchell, getting him to open up about his family and how often they make him feel inadequate with his grades. Hellbat offers to help Mitchell with his grades. Later, Hellbat checks in with Vince, who he finds high off of drugs. Hellbat tells him that he’ll come back to Vince later. He then goes on to check on Reef, going to her home, finding her sitting alone with a gun. Hellbat charges in, stopping her from killing herself, her suicidal tendencies almost getting the better of her. Reef opens up about how it would be the only thing in her life she could control. Hellbat stays with Reef for the rest of the day, passing along word that she is not to be around weapons if ever in the Teen HQ. Hellbat returns and shows Vince hard love as he locks him in a restroom with his drugs barely within reach. He gives him a stirring speech about choice and how it’s all anyone has. He won’t stop Vince from doing drugs, but he reminds him how doing so is chaining him to a life of dependency. He checks on Vince later, finding him choosing to quit his habit. Danton, Nolan’s second in command, remarks how impressed he is with his skills. Hellbat shrugs in response and offers to buy Danton a drink. Word spreads throughout the Teen Ninjas of Hellbats actions, by morning, when Hellbat returns to the Teen Ninjas, he finds many looking to him to lead. There’s been a recent number of kidnappings in Rhode Island. The Queen of Darkness, Danika Anderson arrives because of this. Her presence attracts the attention of the TND, Teen Ninjas and the Vigilantes, due to her notorious efforts during the fight with Grandfather. Danika approaches the TND for help in locating her sister, Payton, who has gone missing in the area. The TND attempt to help, but due to recent events are barely able to operate. Danika approaches The Vigilantes, who claim that they will help, as long as Danika doesn’t rip apart their city. Danika makes no promises. Wiccan aids Danika in her search, eventually coming across Hellbat, who is also on the trail of the child abductions. Wiccan and Hellbat come to blows, only for Danika to intervene. They question Hellbat of his involvement. Hellbat says nothing, only that it’s a family related issue. The trio find Mr. Cleaver, a known human trafficker from the KND days. Danika and Hellbat rescue the children, one of whom is Cecily. Cecily had gone on her own one night believing her to be a crime fighter like her brother was. In the days leading to New Years Eve 2010, Nolan runs into Crystal, who comments on having a crummy New Year’s Eve. Nolan decides to blow off his plans and hang out with Crystal. Crystal eventually departs, citing she was going to spend the rest of the evening with her boyfriend. Nolan understands and is left alone to reflect on his life leading to this moment and considers the mounting responsibilities as his sister’s guardian as well as those to the Teen Ninjas. Receiving an emergency alert from his team, Hellbat speeds to the Teen Ninja HQ and finds the alert to be a false alarm, just a means for his team and friends, as well as other Teen Ninjas who’ve come to idolize him to get him to celebrate New Years with them. Amongst the reveling, Nolan pulls his team aside and privately thanks them for reminding him he wasn’t alone. Throughout the city, everyone celebrates the New Year while Evan and The Governor prepare to put their plan into action. The TND New Years party is tense due to the nature of all surrounding chaos from the ongoing conflict. In 2011, Hellbat begins to look deeper into Evan’s actions as Teen Leader. Hellbat finds large discrepancies between the time in Prom Queen’s death and Evan’s reign in their books. Hellbat leaves to confront Evan, only to discover that Evan has left to visit his family in Britain. Hellbat, knowing fully well that Evan doesn’t have family in Britain, leaves as well. He says goodbye to his team and asks them to hold down the fort. Evan’s lieutenants tip off Evan of Nolan’s actions. Tipped off by Evan, The Sandmen go to Britain to kill Hellbat once and for all. Crystal and Sandman say their goodbyes and he leaves. Nolan finds Evan moving funds from their Teen Ninja offshore accounts and withdrawing them. Hellbat confronts Evan, only to reveal The Sandmen. The Sandmen corner Hellbat with Evan begin hunting him throughout the Britain. A climactic fight breaks out, many Sandmen are killed. Sandman calls Wiccan and asks her to get there asap. The Governor checks the balances in his own accounts, acknowledging the increase in his own personal wealth. The Governor now outlaws the Teen Ninjas, condemning them as terrorists and the cause of all this mayhem in Rhode Island. Hellbat confronts Sandman, wondering why he’d work with the teen leader, Evan. Sandman is confused, voicing how he was led to believe Evan was a subordinate. Evan sets off charges, apparently killing Hellbat and paralyzing Sandman. Sandstorm attempts to fight only to have his throat slit by Evan. Evan leaves, taunting Sandman, leaving him for dead. As Sandman realizes the true goings on behind the Teen Ninjas, a very much alive Hellbat appears. Hellbat and Sandman talk, with Sandman realizing all that Hellbat has lost and is losing right now. While rummaging through Sandman’s belongings, Hellbat discovers Onyx Team’s sigil within amongst his possessions. Discovering Sandman to be working for Infinity, Hellbat discerns there to be far more reaching schemes at work other than Evan’s selfish machinations. Deciding to deal with the implications of his long thought dead nemesis later, Hellbat kills Sandman, then walks into the night. Crystal arrives in London, finding Sandman and Sandstorm’s dead bodies. She cradles her dead lover and vows revenge over the Teen Ninjas. Nolan returns to Rhode Island, covertly, as not to alarm the Teen Ninjas and Evan. Nolan arrives home and spends time with his younger sister, who asks him to tell her stories of his further exploits with the KND. He does as she wishes, but through the course of his stories, he begins to recall the reasons for why he’d first joined the Teen Ninjas, in order to fight it from the inside with the goal to make it better from within. Now he finds himself facing the possibility that it won’t ever come to fruition with Evan making off with the funds, not to mention with the TND sitting on the sidelines, the Vigilantes’ slaughter has made them out to be villains in his eyes, making the Teen Ninjas almost relevant. He asks his sister what she thinks of the Teen Ninjas. She tells him that they scare her. He then asks her of her thoughts of the vigilantes. Cecily says that they scare her, for they too have done things that have not always been in their best interests, revealing that she’d watched as Machinations soldiers destroy her home and kill their mom. Finally, he asks her of how she feels about the Teen Ninja Hellbat. She tells him that Hellbat scares her the most of all, but that she isn’t afraid of him or of the Teen Ninjas or of the Vigilantes, because she believes her brother will step up and fight them all like he used to as a KND operative. Contemplating his conversation with his sister, Nolan contacts his squad, asking that they assemble and informs them of Evan’s actions, how he’s raided their funds with his friends and now prepares to make off with billions. The infrastructure gone from the Teen Ninjas, the organization would collapse. They spread the word and begin to inquire about Evan’s whereabouts. Nolan confronts The Governor, they talk about his involvement in Evan’s schemes, that he is in fact the Adult Benefactor, Windsor’s father, who assumed the oversight job after Dr. Dream’s death. They speak of Windsor, and how Nolan’s actions had led to his death, how afterward the Governor began living for himself, rising through the ranks of the Adult Villains to receive his current job, and that he’d done it to spite the state where Nolan had killed his boy. Nolan is indifferent, seeing as he’s killed many people by now. Nolan then kills The Governor and leaves. Nolan, in civilian wear, arrives at the Rhode Island treasury, where the Teen Ninjas funds are stockpiled. Nolan confronts Evan and his lieutenants, giving Evan a good scare as he’d believed Nolan dead for years. Nolan then fights Evan one on one, reflecting on the last time they’d had their bout with him as a KND operative and Evan a school yard popular kid. Evan gains the upper hand by summoning his subordinates to aid him, leading them to savagely beat Nolan. Evan then taunts the bloodied Nolan, claiming that he’d always wanted to the settle their dispute, only to be dissatisfied with the results, expecting much more form the KND operative. But Nolan reminds him that the KND is long gone, that he is no longer the idealistic operative he used to be. Nolan then calls out for help, catching the attention of Wiccan out on patrol. Wiccan sees the bloodied Nolan, recognizing him as his ‘Koda’ Identity, and then sees Evan and the Teen Ninjas. Given Evan’s history and Sandman’s death, Wiccan doesn’t ask questions and kills them all. Seeing the stockpiled money, she debates destroying it, only to be turn her attention to Nolan, deciding to take him to the hospital. Nolan’s team comes out of hiding and makes off with the money. In the days following, Crystal, still mourning Sandman finds herself lost as she is now expected to take her war with the Teen Ninjas alone with only April and Agatha. The book continues to pester her, demanding it use its full power, only for her to swat it from her mind as she visits Nolan in the hospital as he’s being discharged. The pair sit down and talk about their lives, both lying to each other throughout the conversation, about Crystal being sad over her boyfriend leaving her instead of being dead and Nolan being hurt by a teen attack instead of instigating a scenario to see a vigilante kill them. They leave much left unsaid, but they desire to see more of each other, hoping to find some semblance of peace in the other. Later, Nolan gathers all remaining Teen Ninjas, unsure of their future. Danton and the rest of his inner circle, realizing that they are leaderless, ask for Hellbat to assume Evan’s vacant position. The once and former KND operative reflects on his journey and how despite his best efforts, he has assumed the role as leader of the Teen Ninjas, becoming everything he’d hoped to fight. Regardless, he sees no option other than to stay his course and fight if only to make the world slightly more tolerable. He then begins making designs to usurp total leadership of the Teen Ninjas organization as well as Evil Adult Industries in order to prepare for Infinity’s eventual return. Characters Rhode Island Teen Cell *'Hellbat' *Abraham Drake/Leonidas *Denji Wilcox/Segur *Keith Perry/Bird *James Gage/Drillbit *Ellis Bourne/Grunt *Prom Queen *Danton Rueberg/Vanquish *Mitchell Louis/Snare *Petra Aberdeen/Petra *Zach Simpson/Nacelle *Natalie Crespo (Legends) *Connor Dax (Legends) *Evan March *Daren Delano *Bruce Morris *Maya Jordan *Joe Cortez *Dreadlock *Izzy Meyers (Legends) *Erin Reef *Mindy Vaughn *Maxwell Meeks *Daniel Orleans *Vince Cavanaugh *Francis Lander *Jack Forte *Nebula Sobel United Vigilantes *Crystal Wick/Wiccan *Agatha Pine (Legends) *April Moon *Kids Liberation Force **"Numbuh 01" **"Numbuh 02" *Project Zeta **Machination (Legends) *Sandman *Sandstorm *Sand *Payback *Mara Cade (Legends) Teens Next Door *Douglass Murphy (Legends) *Gwendolyn Tucker (Legends) *Garret O'Neal (Legends) *Vana Washington (Legends) *Thomas Tompkins (Legends) *Kayla Valera (Legends) *Cassandra Abrams (Legends) *Joshua Paddock (Legends) *Danika Anderson (Legends) *Benedict Uno (Legends) *Chad Dickson (Legends) *Cree Lincoln (Legends) *The Steve (Legends) Trivia *'Teens Next Door: Hellbat Origin' is divided up in to three separate sections of chapters. This is because 'Hellbat Origin' covers what would normally consist of three stories by Legends Universe standards. *The dark themes and graphic content may result in 'Hellbat Origin' being a rated 'M' fic, or at the very least, pushing the 'T' rating to the extreme. Soundtrack Like most of the other stories in the Legends Universe, 'Hellbat Origin' is to receive an accompanying song in order to help set the mood and tone for the story. However, due to the episodic nature of 'Hellbat Origin', the story on itself has multiple songs assigned to specific characters and story moments. "Afterlife" by Avenged Sevenfold - Main Theme/Hellbat Theme "She's a Rebel" by Greenday - Wiccan Theme "Beautiful Pain" by Eminem ft. Sia - Wiccan Theme 2 "Me And The Devil" by Soap&Skin - Wiccan vs. Hellbat "The Outsider" by Marina & The Diamonds - Sandman Theme "Words" by Anna Graceman - Wiccan & Sandman Relationship Theme "Echoes of Fate" by Alexandros Nikolaids - Wiccan vs. Triton Squad "Martyr Complex" by The 13 Brotherhood - Hellbat vs. Machination "Think" by Kaleida - Hellbat vs. The Sandmen "Evolve II" by Nordwise - The Talking Book Talks "Durban Skies" by Bastille - Doug Murphy Theme Category:Phase 6: Teens Next Door Category:Legends Universe